8:1-4 àThe Unclean Leper Touched: Jesus
Christ, a seeming law-breaker, touched
an unclean Leper (Lev. 13:1-46, Num. 19:22) and it cleansed the unclean man… “immediately
his leprosy was cleansed” (Matt. 8:3). Jesus Christ is, therefore, “the Law
of the leper in the day of His cleansing” - reformed and fulfilled (Lev. 14:1)!
He is, in other words, a greater sprinkling than the blood of birds sprinkled
seven times; He is a greater water than the old-time washing and a more
purifying ceremony than full-body shaving; He is a greater anointing than
oil-sprinkling and oil-pouring; He is a greater sacrifice than the sin-offering
which was offered for the old-time atonement (see Lev. 14:1-20)!

8:5-13 àAn Unclean Company
Cleansed: Jesus Christ agreed to go into the home of a Gentile
Centurion to heal his servant (“I will come”, see Matt. 8:6-7), but
because the Gentile man loathed the idea of defiling the Lord (apparently he
was aware of the Law), he said, “Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come
under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed” (Matt.
8:8). Jesus Christ was about to enter the home of a Gentile, unashamedly… but
how? If the Lord would have entered the Gentile man’s house He would have
likely taken some refreshments while being in his company, thus the Lord Jesus
would have been eating and drinking in the company and house of a Gentile man!
The Jewish Law which forbade the company of Jews and Gentiles was common
knowledge among Jews and Gentiles (“Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing”-Acts
10:28). Therefore because the Gentile Centurion believed in the Law (which
commanded such things as Lev. 10:10, 11:47, 20:25, Ezek. 22:26, 44:23) he was
abased in his own eyes. In this humility the Gentile man entreated the Lord
that Jesus would not come to his house. Even though Jesus Christ never came
into the house of the Gentile man (and instead healed the servant through the
power of His spoken word), the Lord Jesus vindicated His intention to eat and
drink with a Gentile man by a staggeringly relevant declaration: He foretold
that non-Israelite Gentiles will come from far and distant Lands to sit down
and keep company, eating and drinking at the Table of
the Kingdom of GodwithAbraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
but “the children of the Kingdom”, the Jews, “shall be cast out” (Matt.
8:10-12)! The Lord Jesus was signifying why wisdom justified His entry and
company within the House and presence of Gentiles, giving reference to the
future state of the Kingdom of God [relevant citations: Acts 10:15, 25-29,
11:3, John 18:28-29]. This is shocking! Apparently, in Jesus’ presence, the
unclean company is cleansed! According as it was written, “And in that Day
there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people;
to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious” (Isa.
11:10).

8:14-17 àThePerson and Work
Foretold, A Touch-able
Redemption(the unlawful “touch”
& the demon-possessed unlawfully preserved alive): Jesus Christ encountered
Peter’s sick mother-in-law and it was written, “He touched her hand” (Matt. 8:15).
This “touch”, and many more like
it, were famed abroad so much so that it was written at a later time, “as
many as touched were made
perfectly whole” (Matt. 14:31, Mk. 6:56). This is because Jesus Christ is
the embodiment of salvation (via OT promises: Ex. 15:26, Deut. 7:15, Ps. 103:3;
via OT prophecies: Isa. 53:4, Isa. 35:6, Isa. 43:8, Isa. 35:5, Hos. 6:2, 13:14,
Isa. 25:8, 26:19, John 5:28-29). Jesus Christ did, thereafter, heal as many as
came to Him and cast out every devil (Matt. 8:16)! The unclean people who were
defiled by disease did throng upon Jesus Christ… and as many as touched Him
were healed! The unclean came and touched, and went away clean! According to
the inspired writer this was in fulfillment of the prophecy, “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our
sickness” (Matt. 8:17, Isa. 53:4)! Jesus Christ “took” them, the writer said! This verb emphasizes how Jesus
Christ did, in some cases, reach forth and touch the helpless and hopeless to
take away the wretched curse which crushed both body and soul – diseases which
were ceremonially forbidden to touch! – and in the cases where the unclean took
liberty to reach out and touch Christ, they did so by believing that He existed
to take it away from them! Also here, in Matthew 8:14-17, another sort of
uncleanness is cleansed on a widespread scale. Jesus Christ did forcefully and
powerfully cast out formerly unconquerable devils from all who came to Him for
help! Credibly, this attribute of redemption was prophesied and foretold, and
here demonstrated: the expressed purpose to overthrown, spoil, and punish the
rulers, princes, and spirits which pertain to the kingdom of hell (“And I
will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed;
and it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” -Gen. 3:5,
Rom. 16:20, Heb. 2:14-15, Isa. 24:21, Lk. 10:18, Rev. 12:7-8, 17, 1 Jn. 3:8,
Col. 2:15, Rev. 20:10). This is true, but this is not just a prophetic wonder
but a law-fulfilling wonder! The Spirit in which Christ came (Lk. 9:55) to
Israel was not to kill the demon-possessed or the adulteress, for example, as
the letter of the justice demanded (demon-possessed: Ex. 22:18, Lev. 20:6, 27,
19:31, Deut. 18:10-12; adulteress: Lev. 20:10, Deut. 22:21-24). Jesus Christ
wielded a redemptive power instead of a damning power because His mission was
that of mercy and not of penalty; in other words and in this case, the Lord
Jesus wielded the power to cast out devils instead of killing the
demon-possessed, according to the letter of the Law. The purpose of Christ’s
coming was not to enact the curse/justice of the Law, but to bear it, absorb
it, and take it upon himself! It was not to bring a famine upon the Land to
punish the wicked (Deut. 11:17, 28:23-24)… rather, it was to turn the dry land
into a pool of water (Isa. 41:18) – this is the metaphorical thesis of Jesus
Christ’s miracle ministry conveyed by prophetic language (see Matt. 8:14-17)!
This one attribute of the Man, Jesus Christ – The touch-able-ness of Human Redemption – was so notoriously
spread abroad that when the multitudes gathered around Him (accounted in Matt.
12:15-21 & Mk. 3:6-12) He asked that he might find refuge in a boat to
preach to the people from a removed location. He did this, “lest they should
throng Him. For He healed many insomuch that they pressed upon Him for to touch Him, as may as had plagues. And
unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before Him, and cried, saying,
Thou art the Son of God. And He straitly charged them that they should not make
Him known” (Mk. 3:9-12). Note: The Ceremonial Law-fulfillment of His Touch:
As Jesus Christ went about Israel doing good, it became apparent that this Man
was a body into which all sin would be imputed and absolved, from which all
righteousness would be imputed and imparted to others.

8:19-20 àIncomparable Humility
& Loneliness(a
Ministry characterized by unexpected rejection): A learned scribe came to Jesus
Christ, and said, “I will follow Thee withersoever Thou goest”, thinking that
Jesus Christ would probably live an honored life like his was for the past many
years he spent learning the Law. Christ responded with confrontational boldness
against flagrant apostasy! His response demonstrated the incomparable humility
which Christ was predestined to undertake to save a sin-cursed people who
didn’t want their Messiah (Php. 2:5-8, John 13:1-17). Jesus Christ was
predestined to suffer an unexpected rejection by poplar Judaism and the
widespread public. This foretold lifestyle of Jesus Christ (its loneliness)
brings in view an attribute of redemption which deserves grave and thoughtful
reflection. Through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord said, “And I looked, and
there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore
Mine own arm brought salvation unto Me; and My fury, it upheld Me”
(Isa.63:5). Jesus Christ had power to accomplish human redemption
standing-alone; He had the humility to suffer for and save a guilty and
condemned people by Himself. Even when the Law stated and affirmed every man’s
guilt and condemnation based upon their own deeds which they had committed,
individually speaking (Ex. 32:32-33, Ezek. 18:20, 30), the Lord of glory has power
to absolve every man’s law-bound accountability to their disobedience through
His own singular and stand-alone obedience! “The gift by grace, which is by
One Man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many” (Rom. 5:15)! Every man’s
law-bound and individual accountability was punished by the power of
Divine-fury all throughout the centuries in such a manner that, shockingly,
individual Israelites perished not alone in their iniquities! According to
biblical history, the violent abhorrence that disobedience was to God, in
essence, provoked a violent arousing of Divine-justice (Jonah 1:12-16, Num.
16:22, 17:13, Josh. 22:16-20, Num. 25:1-13, Josh. 7:25, 1 Chron. 21:15-17, Num.
32:14-15, 23), but the LORD did stir-up a more violent force of grace and love
in Jesus Christ which, comparatively, is now manifest in reversed parallelism
to the justice depicted in the aforementioned examples (examples where by one
man’s sin all men suffered the demise of overflowing wrath) – so that now, by
One Man’s obedience, collective redemption is unloosed in furious and
overflowing grace upon all men who believe! “For as by the one man’s
disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall man be
made righteous. Moreover the Law entered, that the offence might abound. But
where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom. 5:19-20). In a
stand-alone and redemptive obedience, the Man Jesus is resurrected and ascended
with a great company of sinners clothed in His righteousness!

8:21-22 àIncomparable &
Collective Royalty: Jesus Christ’s mission (and its followers) were
obliged to and bound by a greater obligation than what was demonstrated in the
Law (by the holiness of the priesthood: Lev. 10:6-7, 21:10-12; by the holiness
of the Nazarites: Num. 6:3-7; and by the general holiness of Israelites: Num.
19:11), thus Jesus Christ said, like in the aforementioned citations, “let
the dead bury their dead” (Matt. 8:22). Consecration from the defilement of
dead bodies was for Divine-reception unto a Divine-purpose of grave importance,
and how much more the ministry and mission of Jesus Christ – The Priesthood of
Melchisedec (Heb. 7:17)! When men were in near-proximity to Jesus Christ’s
bodily presence in the 1st century, the location at which they stood
was as if they had entered a holier place than the Temple of God itself.
Speaking of Himself, Jesus said, “in this place is One greater than the
Temple” (Matt. 12:6)! Therefore as the priests of old-time did go to and
fro throughout the Temple to accomplish their employment of work on the Sabbath
day (Matt. 12:5), the disciples of the Lord went to and fro in attendance to
Jesus Christ. The special necessity of priestly labors necessitated a special
exception from otherwise undeniable obligations of Law. In the historical situation
accounted by Matthew 8:21-22, special exception to the Law which commanded to
honor one’s father and mother is allowed (Ex. 20:12, Deut. 5:16). In the
historical situation accounted by Matthew 12:1-8, special exception to the Law
which forbade work on the Sabbath day was allowed (Ex. 20:8-11, Num. 15:32-36).
In both occasions the 1st century disciples of the Lord Jesus became
more holy than Old Testament priests because of a new priesthood (the order of
Melchisedec-Heb.7:17), a priesthood which was irrespective of one’s physical
lineage via the seed of Aaron (Ex. 28:43, Num. 16:40)! – This was a collective
priesthood active in a superior royalty which appeared contrary to the
Law! A priesthood which would soon include the Gentiles, of all people (“a
royal priesthood”-1Pet.2:9)!

8:23-27 àUnconquerable &
Stand-Alone Authority(a
Mission so impossible there will be an unexpected victory by a Man of
stand-alone authority): The journey of salvation for the disciples is thus
demonstrated in this with pictorial vividness: a tempestuous storm crashing
over the boat and well-nigh drowning the un-believing believers, but Christ
will arise in due time and rebuke the seeming impossible circumstance to
absolute stillness at the instant His command was uttered – demonstrating
unconquerable & stand-alone authority. Jesus Christ had authority to hush
and still all the plagues of God’s wrath (i.e. the overflowing waters; see Ps.
89:8-9, 107:24-29) with a single word. He did this standing-alone---without any
ceremony to merit Divine-favor, without any judgment to appease Divine-justice,
contrary to all the historical instances in the Law where such things were
necessary to pacify the wrath of God (Jonah 1:12-16, Num. 16:22, 17:13, Josh.
22:16-20, Num. 25:1-13, Josh. 7:25, 1 Chron. 21:15-17, 22, Num. 32:14-15, 23)…
this was an unprecedented expression of authority which was simply unheard of
and borderline blasphemous, except this Man be GOD!

8:28-34 àThe Man: A Stand-Alone
Eradication & Expulsion of All Uncleanness: By
appearance, it seemed that Jesus did not abide by the Clean and Unclean Laws
which the Old Testament commanded (Lev. 10:10, 11:47, 20:25, Ezek. 22:26,
44:23). Moreover when Jesus encountered demon-possessed people, instead of
killing them He cleansed them (Ex. 22:18, Lev. 20:6, 27, 19:31, Deut.
18:10-12)! In this short passage the unclean spirits were expelled, unclean
beasts and the associated enterprises which made a business out of uncleanness
were destroyed, and an unclean society rejected the Clean Man because they were
terrified of His cleansing wave! The demon-possessed came from the tombs (which
were unclean, see Num. 19:16-22), the Israelites were herding swine for an
unclean enterprise (Lev. 11:7, Deut. 14:8, Lev. 20:25-27), and, shockingly, all
of it was suddenly driven into destruction as the aftermath of Jesus’ command
to the devils (Matt. 8:30-32; Note: unclean spirits desire to inhabit unclean
places). As a consequence to this, the whole unclean city came together for
fear of Jesus’ power to cleanse and eradicate uncleanness in all its forms!
They plead with Jesus Christ, saying, “depart out of [our] coasts” (Matt.
8:34), which they wished to remain unclean and un-touched by The Man who cleansed everything in near-proximity!
What a staggering event! Every man must choose cleanness or uncleanness
when and if the Man, Jesus, who is the fulfillment of all cleanliness in bodily
form, walks into a Land or City in bodily form… thus were all men in an
upheaval for or against Jesus Christ! When men interacted with Jesus it made
them want to kill Him or die to self, one or the other.

9:1-8 àA Sin-Absolving “Blasphemer”(spiritual
uncleanness is forgiven): The Pharisees said, “This man blasphemeth”, because
the Lord Jesus said to the man with palsy, “Thy sins be forgiven thee”.
Forgiveness was granted without any OT ceremony or sin-offering for atonement
because it was written, “He shall bear their iniquities” (Isa. 53:11).
Shockingly, He was able to offer the salvific virtue which was yet to be
accomplished (which, also, had been accomplished from eternity past –Rev.13:8,
5:6), which, apparently, was alive in real time inside of Himself!

9:9-13 àAn Unclean Company
Cleansed: The man, Matthew, found by the Lord sitting at a table of
uncleanness (“sitting at the receipt of custom”-Matt.9:9), responded to
the call, “Follow Me”. So gloriously did Matthew experience saving conversion
that, thereafter, “Jesus sat at meat” in his house at a great feast he had
prepared for the Lord and a multitude of guests (Lk. 5:29). These guests were
there to behold the spectacle which the conversion experience of Matthew
beckoned (“old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”-2Cor.5:17)
and to hear from the Lord Jesus the words of Life. The Lord Jesus preached everywhere
He went! The Pharisees, looking on, were in utter disbelief that Jesus Christ
is the Messiah. They did not believe He was the Man or the Message of salvation
for Israel, thus they scorned the miracle of salvation. All the Pharisees could
see was, “Jesus sat at meat in the house…behold, many publicans and sinners
came and sat down with him and his disciples” (Matt. 9:10). All the Pharisees
could say was, “Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners” (Matt.
19:11)? They did not understand that the unclean company of sinners was being
cleansed by encountering the walking fulfillment of the Ceremonial and Moral
Law in bodily form. What the Pharisees were beholding was a new ceremony! It
was the ceremony of a new salvation via an evangelistic outreach! – an outreach
that they should have marveled at because of the glory of salvation working
within needy sinners, but instead it was an outreach they marveled at because
of the law-fulfilling method of salvation in Christ which was not apparent to
them and seemingly contradictory to the letter of the Law.

9:14-17 àAn Unprecedented Man
Calls-for Unprecedented Conduct: The aforementioned situation
provided the Pharisees with ammunition to slander the name of Jesus.
Doubtlessly, they pointed out the differing behavior and conduct of John the
Baptist and Jesus Christ. Being motivated by this controversy, the disciples of
John came and inquired of the Lord concerning this difference. The subject of
“eating” is at hand, because Christ’s company with which He ate was
unprecedented by any other person for fear that the individual would break the
Law and become unclean… but every unclean place or person which Jesus Christ
ventured into or touched, He cleansed! Thus, an unprecedented Man performing an
unprecedented salvation (physically and spiritually) necessitates an
unprecedented behavior from the salvation-enriched followers of Jesus. This
principle is communicated by Jesus via the reference of a Wedding, New and Old
Garments, and New and Old Wine. The Bridegroom, who is the life and center of
the Wedding Ceremony, determines the conduct of all its attendees… thus while
Christ is among His disciples they are salvation-enriched (i.e. if this new
conduct existed in the old circumstances it would be sin – ruinous to the soul
and transgressing of the Covenant). If this new conduct, like a new patch, was
applied to the circumstances of the Old Covenant (even the greatest of the
prophets of the Old Covenant), the perfectly woven Covenant would be
rent/transgressed. If this new conduct, like new wine, was applied to
circumstances in the Old Covenant (even the greatest of the prophets of the Old
Covenant), the very casement of the Old Covenant would be rent/transgressed.
Jesus Christ lived-out and exemplified a conduct which was in truth,
law-fulfillments of every inspired letter of the Old Covenant, but the
law-fulfillments were accomplished via a superior virtue than what the letter
offered.

9:18-26 àDefiled by the Dead and
Touched by the Unclean: Illustrating this, the seekers of
salvation take the Kingdom of God in the violence of unprecedented conduct and
behavior! They don’t abide among the funeral dirge and isolate themselves among
his unclean companions. They don’t isolate themselves for seven days so that
they, who are defiled by the dead, refrain from spreading uncleanness
throughout the Land (“This is the Law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that
come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days”-Num.19:14).
Or in the case of uncleanness via a running issue, they don’t isolate
themselves for seven days lest they spread uncleanness throughout the Land (“And
if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put
apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until even”-Lev.15:19).
No… In either case, because of the unprecedented near-presence of the cleansing
Man, the Messiah, the people were allowably diverting from the instruction of
the Law (seemingly law-breaking) because there is a greater fulfillment
available (“The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent
ye, and believe the Gospel”-Mark1:15). The new and unprecedented behavior
is allowed because of the presence of the unprecedented Man, the Bridegroom.
The unclean man who had been defiled by the dead sought out Jesus and cried,
“come and lay Thy hand upon her” (an act which would have defiled Christ on two
points: (1) by entering the house and (2) touching the dead)… a thing which
Jesus did with all boldness: “He went in and took her by the hand, and
the maid arose” (Matt. 9:18, 25)! The unclean woman traversed across society
and pressed through crowds endeavoring touch
Jesus Christ (an act which would defile Christ if He were an ordinary man), but
when she “touched the hem of His
garment” she was cleansed and healed (Matt. 9:20)! Jesus Christ is the greater
fulfillment of the Old Testament “purification for sin” which was prescribed
for those who were defiled by the dead (Num. 19:1-22). Jesus Christ is a
greater sacrifice than “two turtles” or “two young pigeons” (Lev. 15:29), and a
greater atonement than any Old Testament sin-offering (Lev. 15:30). “In that
Day there shall be a Fountain opened to the House of David and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness” (Zech. 13:1).
Hallelujah!

9:27-34 àBoundless Powers of
Healing & Restoration(insomuch that the blind see and the dumb speak,
according to prophecy): The blind men followed Christ, saying, “Thou Son of
David, have mercy on us”, acknowledging that Jesus was the Christ (foretold to
be the Son of David and a healer of the blind; “the eyes of the blind shall
be opened”-Isa.35:5). The restoration of their physical sight was a result
of their spiritual sight – thus, and because of this, the blind men boldly and
violently approached the Man from which proceeded a fountain of saving power
and physical restoration (“the violent take it by force”-Matt.1:12)!
This is a literal fulfillment of a Messianic regathering and restoring of
Israel foretold by prophecy, saying, “Bring forth the blind people that have
eyes, and the deaf that have ears” (Isa. 43:8)! When they were thus allowed
to approach the One who captured their eyes of faith, it was written, “Then touched He their eyes, saying,
According to your faith be it unto you” (Matt. 9:29). Amen! The Man, Jesus, was
an absorbent vacuum of every sin-caused malady which assailed the common
public, and this, so much so, that even blind men could see that Jesus was the
long-looked-for and promised Messiah, the Son of David! The entire environment
of the visible and invisible creation was so captivated by the Messianic powers
which emanated from the bodily frame of the God-Man that, shockingly, in the event
that, haply, the chosen people held their peace from shouts of praise and lauds
of adoration, at this time “the stones would immediately cry out” in their
place (Luke 19:40)! And so it was moreover testified and proven again and
again, “As they went out, BEHOLD, they brought to Him a dumb
man possessed with a devil. And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake:
and the multitudes marveled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel” (Matt.
9:32-33). The manifestation of the Messiah could not be foretold any clearer!
It is written, “the tongue of the dumb shall sing!” Hallelujah! “Then the
eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deafshall
be unstopped. Then shall the lameman leap as an hart, and the
tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out,
and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool,
and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons,
where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And an highway shall
be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness;
the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the
wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.” – Isaiah 35:5-8

9:35-38 àImmeasurable Compassion
& Heart-Moving Tenderness (the Church is thereby
established as an outlet or channel for His love to continue!): In the
aforementioned words and deeds heretofore detailed, the Lord Jesus was known so
to behave. He “went about all the cities and villages” – “teaching”
& “preaching” – and “healing every sickness and every disease
among the people” (Matt. 9:35), and as it was all said and done He was not
satisfied! “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on
them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no
shepherd. Then saith He unto His disciples, The Harvest truly is plenteous, but
the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the Harvest, that He will
send forth labourers into His Harvest” (Matt. 9:36-38). My reader, do you
know the love of Christ? It was Paul’s prayer that the Church may be enabled to
“comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and
height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might
be filled with the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:18-19). As you will soon see,
my reader, the Lord Jesus is not satisfied to lay His hands on the Lepers and
the diseased, being compelled by so great a zeal for the wellbeing of sinners
Jesus of Nazareth laid His hands on called-out disciples to impute and impart
the virtue of cleansing power so that they, alongside of Him, would fill the
Land of Israel full of the goodness which flows from Jesus’ Name.

10:1-8 àA Church-Body to Spread
the Restoration Power of Christ in Greater Magnitude(Christ
living through Christians): In the aforementioned heart and desire the Lord
called, anointed, and endowed twelve disciples as apostles and sent them
abroad. They were sent so to do exactly what Christ was doing (Matt. 10:7-8).
By message and miracles, the Kingdom of God was effectually proclaimed! Their
mission was directed toward the House of Israel and not the Gentiles (Matt.
10:5-8); “to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” –Rom. 1:16. Oh, my
reader, take note! The inspired text said, “also to the Greek”! The love of
Christ which began in Israel must travel abroad into all the world, my reader,
but He is looking for channels through which the mighty waters will flow! The
eyes of God are upon 20th century Christians that they would yield
themselves to God so to be, like exemplified in Israel, but in the Gentile
countryside. If Christ’s love is comprehended by any Gentile Church Age saint…
it is a comprehension which surpasses the confinements of earthly intelligence
(“the love of Christ which passeth knowledge”-Eph.3:19). Oh that we
could grasp the unknowable! That we, like the 1st century disciples,
would become bodies through which the life of Jesus could flow! That we, like
Him, could become walking law-fulfillments of cleansing power! So that we, like
Christ, would be ambassadors of this Touch-able
redemption which was prophesied to spread throughout all the world! If we truly
understood the love of Christ that motivated Him to lay His hands upon the
apostles and, thus, envision the innumerable company of Christians which would
be conformed to the image of the Jesus through their endowment as apostles, we
all, as Christians, would feel as though the holy hands of our Lord are
reaching toward us right now! Every blessing and virtue of their endowment is
our anointing, dear saints! Thus when we pray we are exhorted to be reflective
of this most glorious mystery, “the power that worketh in us” (Eph. 3:20)!
Hallelujah! May we see this glory again in its 1st century purity
and virginity, according to the witness and testimony of the New Testament!
After all, the New Testament is the only sure and infallible definition of what
normal Christianity is.

10:9-31 àA Clean Man & Message
REJECTED by an Unclean Land /Salvation & Damnation in Terms of
Territorial Cleanness & Uncleanness: The targeted people for whom
the missionary journey existed were the Israelites, a people who were supposed
to be clean (the people, their possessions, Homes, territories, Cities, and
Land). This being the case, inquiry was to be made in each City the apostles
entered. The inquiry was in search for what Christ called, “son of peace”
(Lk. 10:6). Who is this man? This is a man who receives the message and Man of
the Gospel, apparently. Upon finding him (the son of peace), the apostles were
instructed to abide in his house because it is worthy/clean (Matt. 10:11-13).
If the house was unworthy/unclean it was because the people of the household
were unclean via rejecting Christ (“whosoever shall not receive you, nor
hear your words”-Matt. 10:14). Notice carefully the terms of damnation, my
reader. Whoever rejected the apostles did thereby reject Christ!
Jesus Christ was being represented and expressed via the messengers, their
message, and the associated miracles which were all performed in His Name;
therefore, Christ said, “He that receiveth you receiveth Me, and he that
receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me” (Matt. 10:40). This is an amazing
statement! Jesus Christ had power to impute and impart cleanness inside of
ambassadorial messengers who will, thereby, become walking law-fulfillments of
cleansing power in the Name of Jesus unto all who will receive the Man of their
message through them! This has become, therefore, through the Church (“which is
His body”-Eph.1:23), a touch-able
redemption spreading through ambassadors who express the Man, message, and miracles
necessary for salvation (a faith-inspiring reaction within unbelievers enabling
them to engage the Living God)! This reality was so real and actual – through
missionary journeys via the Church – we can see the operation of salvation and
damnation via the terms of territorial uncleanness! This was proven
when, according to the Lord Jesus’ instruction, the apostles encountered a City
where all the men therein were unclean, it was then that the whole Land was
left without hope and help thereby… but how is this discerned? It was discerned
by the rejection of the Christ-sent missionaries who represented Him! Upon
finding no House and no man within a City to receive the messengers of Christ,
a declaration of public testimony needed to be made to the apostate
people. The Lord’s instruction was shocking! He said, “When ye depart out of
that House or City, shake off the dust of your feet” (Matt. 10:14)! Adam Clarke
gives helpful commentary on the meaning of this demonstration,

“Shake
off the dust of your feet - The Jews considered themselves
defiled by the dust of a heathen country, when was represented by the prophets
as a polluted land, Amo_7:17, when
compared with the land of Israel, which was considered as a holy land, Eze_45:1; therefore, to shake the dust of any
city of Israel from off one’s clothes or feet was an emblematical action,
signifying a renunciation of all farther connection with them, and placing them
on a level with the cities of the Heathen. See Amo_9:7.”
– Adam Clarke.

The
individuals, Households, Cities, and Lands which rejected Christ’s message via
His messengers (Matt. 10:40-42) were thereby reduced into such an abhorrent
estate of wickedness before God Almighty that, shockingly, they were more unclean
and defiled than the Land of Sodom and Gomorrah (Cities which were given
over to all manner of uncleanness, fornication, and “going after strange
flesh”, Cities which the common public knew were “set forth an example” in how
they were utterly annihilated by the wrath of God; see Jude 1:7). Notice how
Christ pronounced woe upon the “City” as a territory – a territory that had
been blackened by a more terrible uncleanness than the territorially unclean
“Land” of Sodom and Gomorrah (which was defiled by strange flesh; see Matt.
10:15 & Rom. 1:24, 26-27). A territorially unclean and God-forsaken City is
witnessed against by an action which communicated territorial uncleanness &
territorial damnation, like heathen Lands and nations. Christ pointedly
confirmed the meaning of this by comparing “that City” to “the Land of Sodom
and Gomorrah” – both of them as territories of uncleanness – only in this case,
shockingly, the Israelite was more abominable than the Sodomite! This is
utterly astonishing! How offensive would this be to the Jews, my reader!

No
wonder then, seeing that these Cities and Lands were crawling with unclean men…
Christ called them “wolves”. He said, “beware of men”, for they will use their
synagogues of worship and councils of righteous judgment as
scourging arenas to discipline and murder clean men (Matt. 10:17-22) – so much
so that the God-sent and holy apostles were considered as unclean as
“Beelzebub” himself (Matt. 10:23-25)! What a staggering thing! The most clean
were, by the most unclean, considered the most unclean! Truly, “An unjust man
is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is abomination
to the wicked” (Prov. 29:27)!

10:32-42
àA Family/City/Nation-
“Rebel” and a Curse-Burdened “Criminal” Doomed for the Crucifix(a
rebel: Micah 7:6 & Matt. 10:35-36, a cursed criminal: Gal. 3:13 & Matt.
10:38): In such a circumstance (formerly detailed) Christ did not come to
bring peace. “What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and
her witchcrafts are so many?” The Lord Jesus sent his disciples to
contradict the lies and liars of popular Judaism by unashamedly confessing the
true Messiah (Matt. 10:32-33). The Lord Jesus and His followers would not
behave in any way which could be considered “peaceful” conduct in a society at
war against God; at war by religious creed, mind you! Society-conformity in
this 1st century situation would have been truth-apostasy. Though
the entire society calls Jesus Christ and His followers, “Beelzebub”, the Lord
chooses the hard truth: to be a curse-burdened rebel of their society’s
religious code. The truth meant self-sacrifice, in this society. Expressing
this the Lord quoted Micah 7:6 as a satirical rebuke to men who suppose they
represent true Judaism. Apparently Jesus Christ was accepting and unashamed of
the false-identity they tagged him with, boldly stating the hard truth of a
ministry of revival in the midst of apostasy: “For the son dishonoureth the
father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against
her mother in law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house” (Micah
7:6, Matt. 10:35-36). Jesus Christ chose obedience, even if He appeared
to be a cursed law-breaker or a rebellious up-riser, as the prophet Micah spoke
of. I say again, Jesus knew that peace in this Judaistic society meant war
against God! With these things in mind and with all boldness, Christ
illustrated the pathway of salvation as a curse-burdened and cross-bearing
pathway, a road trod by those who lose their temporary livelihood to keep it
for eternity (Matt. 10:37-39)! Jesus Christ preached Himself as the cursed man
who was doomed to hang on a tree (“for he that is hanged is accursed of God”-Deut.21:23,
Josh. 10:26-27), for the redemption of a cursed and unclean society which was
otherwise doomed. It was written, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of
the Law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that
hangeth on a tree” (Gal. 3:13). Because Jesus Christ was a Clean Man in an
Unclean Land, He became a cursed, rejected, and crucified Man!

11:1-19 àThe Inquiry of the
Greatest Prophet / John the Baptist Offended at Jesus’ “Unclean Practices” /
The Notorious Offenses of Christ Offended John the Baptist: After
the Lord Jesus had been slandered and misrepresented all across the Land of
Israel, John the Baptist was noticeably affected. Can a Messiah be so hated and
slandered? Would the Messiah utterly trespass the framework of 1st
century Judaism as Jesus had? Could the Messiah be so misunderstood and
infamous? On one occasion, for example, the Lord Jesus was compelled to defend
Himself against the accusations of his own family members who supposed Him to
be crazy. The justification for Jesus’ actions were easily explained. He said
to his family members, “The world cannot hate you: but Me it hateth, because I
testify of it, that the works thereof are evil” (John 7:7). This was truthful
for his carnal family members, this is for sure… but in Matthew 11 John the
Baptist is offended – Jesus’ beloved cousin and forerunning prophet who was
filled with the Holy Ghost from the womb! Consider it, my reader: what
compelling Jewish controversies would have been able to dissolve the confidence
of John the Baptist’s faith in Jesus – the same man who testified before the
multitudes, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). The same man
who cried out, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”
(John 1:29)! My reader, the controversies were compelling… to say the least. It
was surely purported by many that John the Baptist would not have received
Jesus as the Messiah, given Jesus’ outrageous misconduct and seeming disregard
for Jewish Law. Jesus was made-out to appear completely insubordinate to Jewish
Law by every major authority in the Jewish sphere of religious influence.

With all
this in mind, what would the Lord respond to the inquisitive messengers sent by
John the Baptist? What answer would settle the heart of the seemingly
unshakable prophet, His beloved cousin? The Lord Jesus answered the inquiry of
John the Baptist by deeds, not mere words. “Jesus answered and said unto
them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind
receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf
hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me” (Matt. 11:4-6).
Jesus expected John the Baptist to discern if He was the Christ through these
mighty acts, for good reason. Such acts speak for themselves because they were
a confirmation of the word of God.

The
flames of widespread fame did burn up the whole Land (“I am come to send
fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled”-Lk.12:49)
because the Lord Jesus was full of healing power which cured sicknesses and
diseases in fulfillment of all thepromised blessings via Old
Testament Covenants (Ex. 15:26, Deut. 7:15, Ps. 103:3, Isa. 53:4), a
healing power which was the fulfillment of prophecies foretelling the
accomplishments of the Messiah (the sick: Isa. 53:4, the lame: Isa. 35:6,
the blind: Isa. 43:8, the deaf: Isa. 35:5, the dumb: Isa. 35:6, the dead: Hos.
6:2, 13:14, Isa. 25:8, 26:19, John 5:28-29), and, furthermore, the Lord Jesus
had all authority to cast out and subdue devils of any sort in fulfillment of
what was foretold as Christ’s express purpose to overthrow, spoil, and punish
the rulers, princes, and spirits which pertain to the invisible and worldwide
kingdom of hell (“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and
between thy seed and her seed; and it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt
bruise his heel” -Gen. 3:5, Rom. 16:20, Heb. 2:14-15, Isa. 24:21, Lk.
10:18, Rev. 12:7-8, 17, 1 Jn. 3:8, Col. 2:15, Rev. 20:10). Note: The
Spirit in which Christ came (Lk. 9:55) to Israel was not to kill the
demon-possessed or the adulteress, as the letter of the justice did righteously
demand (demon-possessed: Ex. 22:18, Lev. 20:6, 27, 19:31, Deut. 18:10-12;
adulteress: Lev. 20:10, Deut. 22:21-24)… the purpose of Christ’s coming was not
to enact the curse/justice of the Law but to bear it - to absorb it and take it
upon Himself! His purpose was not to bring a famine upon the Land to punish the
wicked doers according to their evil deeds… no, my reader. Rather, it was to
bring streams in desert places and spiritual health to a hell-bound people
until the dry land becomes a pool of water (Isa. 35:5-8, 41:18). My reader,
this is the thesis of Christ’s miracle ministry (see Matt. 8:14-17). Jesus
Christ was expecting John to discern the same matter which was appealed to
others in clear argumentation: “If I do not the works of the My Father,
believe Me not. But if I do, though ye believe not Me, believe the works: that
ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in Me, and I in Him” (John
10:37-38). “Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or
else believe Me for the very works’ sake” (John 14:11). “If I had not
come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for
their sin. He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among
them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have
they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this cometh to pass, that
the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without
a cause” (John 15:22-25).

By the
statement, “blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in Me”, it is
clear that John the Baptist was temporarily overtaken in offense. But what was
so offensive about the Person and Work of Jesus Christ, very specifically
speaking? After affirming John the Baptist’s superiority over all former
prophets in Matthew 11:7-15 (quoting Mal. 3:1 in Matthew 11:10 & Mal. 4:5
in Matthew 11:14), the Lord Jesus addressed the primary matter of offense which
was being noised abroad (this underlying issue was hinted at before in Matthew
9:14). Think of it, my reader. John the Baptist’s disciples had more in common
with the Pharisees than Jesus’ disciples did, therefore the disciples of John
are compelled to ask Jesus, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy
disciples fast not” (Matt. 9:14)? More questions could be asked in
connection to this distinction of conduct, this is for sure. Jesus Christ goes
straight at the matter, and said, “For John came neither eating nor
drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. The Son of Man came eating and
drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of
publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children” (Matt.
11:18-19). With the central issue then brought to the surface of the reader’s
attention, Matthew is preparing to make a point of argument thereafter… but, as
of now, let the reader understand the foremost issue of notorious offense which
pervaded the Land of Israel insomuch that John the Baptist was offended: Jesus’
blatant disregard to the letter of the Law as it pertained to the Clean and the
Unclean according to the Old Testament. Howbeit, my reader, what appeared to be
law-breaking was actually law-fulfilling! If the Jews only knew…

11:20-30
àThe Man & Relationship Upon Which
Hinged All Cleanness and Uncleanness / All Who Received Jesus Became Clean
& All Who Rejected Jesus Became Unclean: Shockingly, the Clean
Man was received by unclean companies of people who were thereby cleansed (“publicans
and sinners”-Matt.11:19), but He was expelled from the “clean people’s”
Households, Cities, and Lands… so it seemed (Chorazin, Bethsaida, and
Capernaum-Matt.11:20-24). Note: These are the same people who are offended that
Jesus does not keep the Clean and Unclean Laws written in the Old Testament.
Those people who by letter appeared to be clean were actually unclean and
unconverted in truth, and those who by letter appeared to be and in truth were
unclean… they were made clean! Why? Such a question could be answered by
correlating arguments uttered by the Lord Jesus on other occasions:

(#1) “Jesus
said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might
see; and that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be
made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with Him heard these words,
and said unto Him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind,
ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth”
(John 9:39-41).

(#2) “And
when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto His disciples, Why eateth your Master
with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, He said unto them, Thy
that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn
what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to
call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matt. 9:11-13).

You see,
my reader. These Pharisees were wise in their own conceits and supposed that
they could see (discern what is righteousness and who is righteous), therefore
their sin remained uncleansed! But, on the contrary, the publicans were those
who were humbled/blinded from the damnable conceit of hypocritical Pharisees
who trusted in themselves that they were righteous. Because of the shame of
what could be easily detected as sin, the publicans and sinners were thus
humbled… therefore they, relating to Christ as a blind man in need of sight,
were given sight! As much as the Pharisees said in their hearts, “We see”, or
in other words, “We are the righteous”, they were blinded and deafened to the
identity and call of Jesus Christ which would lead them into saving repentance!
According to Luke 18:9-14 the Pharisees “trusted in themselves that they were
righteous, and despised others”. In denouncement of this hypocrisy (directly
following the notorious controversy [Matt. 11:18-19] stirred up by the
unconverted Jews), the Lord Jesus declared the truth of the matter!

While
the Lord Jesus was notoriously considered to be unclean by the companionship of
unclean company (Matt. 11:19) because the unbelieving Jews were blinded to the
cleansing-power of faith in Christ (the unsuspected law-fulfillments of the
Messiah), Jesus attempted missionary endeavors to convert the public mass which
was supposedly, on the contrary, “a clean people”… but He was notoriously
rejected by Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. Matthew cites the consequence
of this to answer the notorious controversy which well-nigh subverted John the
Baptist. As a consequence of the supposed “clean people” and “clean places”
rejecting Jesus, the Lord denounced them in terms of damnation via territorial
uncleanness! As a declaration of what truly happened, the Lord Jesus relayed a
message to express that these cities were overtaken in territorial uncleanness
and thereby they rejected God’s Clean Man and Cleansing Message, thus they are
worse off than Tyre and Sidon (two heathen cities lawfully and territorially
unclean), doomed to be subjected to greater torments than the Land of Sodom
itself (the most notorious Land of uncleanness of all time)! These are the most
staggering and insulting denouncements which could have been declared to the
self-righteous and hypocritical Jews of the 1st century (and in the
wake of so great a false controversy they have been spreading throughout the
Land of Israel!). This rebuke (in Matt. 11:20-24) is much like the rebuke
delivered to Jesus’ home town in Nazareth. In Luke 4:23-27 the Lord Jesus
justified the absence of the miraculous power which visited Capernaum by citing
how Elijah did not visit with, abide among, provide for, or cleanse any
Israelite during the years of famine. Instead, Elijah abode with a Gentile
woman who was a widow in the city of Sidon, and cleansed the Gentile name
Naaman, the Syrian.

Some notable
and thematic conclusions which need to be made on behalf of this integral
chapter in continuity to the entire argument delivered by Matthew heretofore:
This notorious controversy took occasion through the easily discernible
difference of conduct exhibited by John the Baptist and Jesus Christ, and John
was recognized by all as a true prophet before Jesus even began His ministry.
These distinctions of conduct and method can be justified through understanding
how, firstly, John the Baptist abode in the wilderness before the days
of his ministerial appearing to escape the rampant uncleanness and widespread
apostasy of 1st century Judaism, and, thus, in confirmation to this,
in the hour of John’s appearing he preached a water baptism of repentance for
the remission of sins through a ceremonial washing, so to speak (a typological
and symbolic experience which represented the lawful and ceremonial
washing/cleansing necessary to remove all the uncleanness’ of the people), and,
secondarily, this is relevant to Jesus Christ in that, John said, “He
that cometh after Me is mightier than I…He shall baptize you with the Holy
Ghost” (Matt. 3:11). This same thing Jesus confirmed, saying, “John indeed
baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost” (Acts
11:16). This is the radical difference between John and Jesus! Think of it, my
reader: both of them were baptizers… but John’s baptism was inferior to
Christ’s baptism. The former was of water and the latter of the Spirit. The
former was visible but the latter invisible. Needless to say, John’s
Divinely-commissioned method of cleansing uncleanness was inferior to
Jesus’! John’s baptism drew men into the wilderness so that (like in the days
of Moses in Exodus 33:7) everyone who sought the Lord needed to withdraw
themselves from the territorial uncleanness’ which pervaded the Land and, thus,
be cleansed via water baptism, but Jesus Christ was a Spiritual Fountain
whereby men were baptized in the Holy Ghost! This baptism was not with mere
water, oh no! This baptism was not of earthly significance in the Ceremonial
Law of the Old Testament, no! This baptism originated from Heaven and its
essence was GOD. This baptism so far exceeds the cleansing power of John’s
water baptism like the chasm between earth and heaven! Seeing this great
difference between the two men and their ministries, Jesus Christ was able to
behave differently as He traversed the Lands of Uncleanness on foot. Jesus
Christ invaded the Lands of uncleanness with cleansing power like floods of waters
breaking forth into a desolate wilderness (Isa. 35:6-7)! Everywhere He went,
everything He did, and everything He said communicated the cleansing-power of
the Kingdom of God (“For the Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power”-1Cor.4:20)
so that the otherwise unclean, hopeless, and un-touch-able people were cleansed and redeemed! [Note:
The Book of Acts is organized as a careful answer to the notorious controversy
raised against Christ by false Judaism (Matt. 9:9-13, 11:19, Acts 10:28-29).]
This glorious distinction between John and Jesus and the superior salvation
which Jesus Christ performed among Israel was only observable and
understandable by the elect individuals whom God gave eyes to see (Matt.
11:25-30).

12:1-8 àA Corn Gathering Sabbath-Breaker: What
is so controversial about gathering corn on the Sabbath day? According to the
letter of the Law there is great occasion for concern in this. If men were
caught gathering anything at all which could appear to be work on the Sabbath
day, the consequences were grave. Demonstrating this, a man was once put to
death for “gathering sticks” on the Sabbath day (Num. 15:32-36). Seeing
that the Lord and His disciples were gathering corn on the Sabbath day,
an occasion for accusation was provided and taken by the merciless
and blind-eyed Pharisees.

Merciless, I say,
because the Lord and His disciples were poor men (“The foxes have holes, and
the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath no where to lay His
head.”-Matt.8:20). The Pharisees should have been merciful to the poor,
like the Law demands (Prov. 19:17, 14:21, 28:27). The Pharisees should have
been provisional for the poor, like the Law exemplified (Lev. 19:10, Deut.
24:21). If the Pharisees had mercy then they “would not have condemned the guiltless”
(Matt. 12:7).

Blind-eyed, I say,
because the Pharisees did not understand the potential of lawful exceptions to
the letter of the Law as it was exemplified in inferior circumstances to the
present situation of the Messiah, a situation that they murmured against and
ferociously condemned. The Lord Jesus defended Himself and His disciple’s
actions through citing David as an example – a situation where circumstances
permitted the otherwise unlawful to happen without blame. In this circumstance
David was on the run for his life (and in a masterful and dignified way, so was
Jesus), he had no time or ability to provide for himself on the journey he was
compelled to suddenly take (and in a masterful and dignified way, so was
Jesus), so the High Priest gave him the holy bread to eat which was ordinarily
and lawfully “only for priests” (Matt. 12:4). This circumstance for
David was not altogether unrelated to the ordinary and repeated event at which
“the priests in the Temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless” (Matt.
12:5). Jesus Christ was making the point very clear: extraordinary
circumstances do justify otherwise unlawful behavior on the Sabbath, according
to scripture. We can say for sure that if anyone is commissioned and employed
in a holy order of New Testament priesthood which is comparable to the Old
Testament priesthood, it is Christ and the apostles! Therefore if anyone is
privileged in a like-circumstance to, as some might accused according to the
letter, “profane the Sabbath”, it was Jesus and His disciples.

Moreover
the Lord did, in another Gospel account, clarify the reason the Sabbath existed
in the first place (Mk. 2:27). We can be sure that the Sabbath did not exist
[1] to starve mankind when preparations were not possible (Matt. 12:3-4) or [2]
to provide occasions for harm or pain in unpredicted but presently preventable
situations involving animals or humans (see Matt. 12:9-14), for God is a
merciful God. Furthermore and above all other arguments of potential
justification for Jesus’ and His followers’ “Sabbath-Breaking” deeds, if the
Jews knew the identity of the One who walked among them they would not have
dared to accuse Him (Matt. 12:6)! That which is done on every Sabbath day
within the Temple is never contested because of the stature and dignity of the
priesthood… the work of holy men continued on holy days even when all others
rested! Speaking on this wise, Jesus Christ said, “But I say unto you, That
in this place is One greater than the Temple” (Matt. 12:6)!

In each
one of the circumstances over which the Pharisees stumbled, arguably in all of
them, the Pharisees were misinterpreting the Law because they did not believe
that Jesus Christ was the Messiah: in other words they disagreed with the
superiority and progress of His mission above the aforementioned examples.
Therefore when Jesus and others were found in extraordinary circumstances which
“appeared” to be in transgression to the Law, the Pharisees sought to defame
and incriminate Jesus based upon appearance even though they would justify a
person of inferior holiness doing the same actions in aplace
of inferior holiness in a time of inferior redemption than
when in the 1st century… shockingly, the God-Man walked among them!
My reader, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we
beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace
and truth” (John 1:1, 14)! Therefore the subject is settled: “the Son of
Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day” (Matt. 12:8)!

12:9-14 àA Traditional “Sabbath-Breaker”
via Healing(unbiblical traditions defied and refuted): In
continuation of purpose to the former verses found in Matthew chapter 12,
Matthew narrates a historical event which refutes an unbiblical tradition
incorporated in 1st century Jewish Sabbath Rules. Herein it is
proven that the Sabbath did not exist to provide occasions for harm or pain in
unpredicted but presently preventable situations involving animals or humans.
With majestic power and authority Jesus broke-through the iron bars of
unbiblical tradition! By way of summary, my reader, let us understand the
follow:

Two
Distinct Reasons for Blamelessness of Every Accusation Delivered by the Jews

(#1)
Blamelessness because of the dignity, holiness, and power of Jesus to be the
fulfillment of the Law in every circumstance. Note: this blamelessness exists
even though the letter of what was written in the Law is apparently defied,
thus Christ fulfills the Law in Kingdom realities which are unpredicted by and
superior over the Old Testament Law.

(#2)
Blamelessness because the seeming transgression of the Law which Jesus stands
accused of is actually a man-made tradition (a misinterpretation of the letter
of the Law), thus all of Jesus’ defiance of these things is justifiable!

12:15-21àA KING Who Does Not
Fight, A Sword-less King / A King Who Would, by Sacrifice & Surrender to
Injustice, Establish Justice & Worldwide Dominion: After
Jesus Christ had seemingly and justifiably defied the letter of the Law
pertaining to the Sabbath (Matt. 12:1-8), and then, afterward, back-to-back
(according to the argument written by Matthew), the Lord Jesus defied the
unbiblical Sabbath day tradition fabricated by the Pharisees which forbade
healing and doing good on the Sabbath day (Matt. 12:9-14)… Matthew emphasizes
that, because of this, “Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council
against Him, how they might destroy Him” (Matt. 12:14). Having
defiled the idolatrous shrine created by the Pharisees – the Sabbath Day
tradition – and having a seeming disregard to all the tenets of Jewish conduct
theretofore (according to the demented mind of an unbelieving and blind
Pharisee), the Pharisees were then, at this point, driven into the fury of
murderous conspiracy (see Matt. 12:14). Upon this circumstance, ordinarily, the
to-be-KING of Israel would not retreat or surrender but take-up-sword and
fight! This cannot be understated, my reader! Kings were raised up for the
purpose of sword-in-hand battles to overthrow every cause of injustice and
establish all necessary righteousness in and among the physical nation of
Israel (Ps. 18:32-50, 1 Chron. 20:1, 1 Kings 10:9, Jer. 23:5, Psalm 72). This
was the common and consistent behavior of all the Kings of Israel and Judah,
generally speaking, noted throughout the pages of biblical history… and yet,
Jesus, the greatest KING Israel had ever seen, at the moment he “knew” how the
Pharisees sought to “destroy Him” by bloodshed and murder --- He “withdrew
Himself” (Matt. 12:14-15). Because this conduct is so contrary to the ordinary,
biblical, and historical behavior of every righteous King in Israel or Judah,
and because this conduct is contrary to the popular opinion of what the Messiah
would do when and if He appeared in Israel, Matthew was compelled to make a
defense.

Matthew
argued that Jesus acted in fulfillment of a prophecy from Isaiah which foretold
that the Messiah would not be a man of physical war or carnal brutality for the
establishment of all justice and judgment in the 1st Advent
(“He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear His voice in the
streets. A bruised reed shall He not break, a smoking flax shall He not quench,
till He send forth judgment unto victory. And in His Name shall the Gentiles
trust.”-Matt.12:19-21). Rather, in the 1st Advent, the Messiah
would behave in such a way in the midst of physical conflict (conflict which
threatened to overthrow the future hope of the Messiah’s Kingship in Israel, so
it seemed) which would lead to a worldwide dominion over the Gentiles via His
betrayal and substitutionary death! But how… you wonder? According to prophecy,
Christ would be betrayed for blood-money (Zech. 11:12, Matt. 26:14-15), by a “friend”
(Ps. 55:12-14, 41:9, Zech. 13:6, Matt. 26:49-50), and the unsuspecting
disciples which followed Him would forsake Him (Zech. 13:7, Matt. 26:56, Mk.
14:27), only then to be accused by false witnesses before an assembly of Jews
(Ps. 35:11, Matt. 26:59-60), to be interrogated and condemned by the heathen
ruler Pontius Pilate (“And He answered him to never a word; insomuch
that the governor marveled greatly”-Matt.27:14), and, thus, moreover, He
would be smitten, beaten, bruised, and spat upon (Isa. 50:6, 53:5, 7, Matt.
27:12-14, 26, 29-30) --- all the while remaining silent! This is profound
behavior for a KING in the thrall of injustice! Yes, and therefore Matthew was
compelled to put the Jews in memory of this profound prophecy by Isaiah
concerning the Messiah’s unexpected behavior. Do you remember when the Lord
Jesus willingly surrendered Himself into the hands of injustice, saying to
Peter, “Put again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword
shall perish with the sword” (Matt. 26:52)? Do you remember how Jesus said
to Pilate several hours after His surrender, “My Kingdom is not of this
world: if My Kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I
should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is My Kingdom not from hence”
(John 18:36)! This is no ordinary King or Kingdom… this is for sure.

Doubtlessly,
if Jesus Christ would have opened His mouth to make a defense before the
court of Jews which examined Him on that predestined night of Christ’s
substitutionary condemnation, all men would have been unraveled from their
mischievous cause insomuch that Jesus would have been freed and His accusers
punished! Yea, but instead… “Jesus held His peace”. The High Priest
could hardly believe Jesus’ behavior, and said, “Answerest thou nothing” (Matt.
26:62-63)!? If Jesus Christ would have made a defense of Himself at any time in
word only, without any physical force, the multitudes of both the Jews and
the Gentiles would have been undone from the spell of Satan and, finding the
Man innocent, would have ushered Him away from the scourging court, out from
the interrogation shackles, far yonder from the road to Calvary’s hill! We can
be sure that if, at any time, Jesus would have given a verbal defense of
His Person and Work… the events which would have transpired would have been
just as it always was in every previous instance when He opened His mouth to
speak! – the multitudes would have stood in silent admiration and astonishment
(Matt. 7:28-29, 9:8, 26, 31, 33), the common people would have believed on Him
(Mk. 12:37, Matt. 12:23), the Pharisees, Lawyers, and Scribes would have been
unable to answer Him (Matt. 22:46, Mk. 12:34, Lk. 20:40), and the soldiers who
had been sent to seize Him would have been utterly disarmed (“Never a man
spake like this man”, the soldiers confessed!-John7:46) or fallen backward
upon the ground (“As soon then as He had said unto them, I am He, they went
backward, and fell to the ground”-John18:6)! But, alas, and glory to God
the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted,
yet He opened not His mouth:
He is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is
dumb, so He openeth not His
mouth” (Isa. 53:7)! Contrary to the popular opinion of 1st
century Judaism, when the promised Messiah did appear it was for this a
carefully detailed and foretold cause – Self-sacrifice, Self-surrender, and
Silent-Endurance! Therefore in the hour of Jesus’ betrayal and in times of
distress, times where Kings were expected to fight and overcome their
adversaries to begin their Kingdom from thenceforth, Jesus Christ surrendered.
He was not an ordinary King of Israel whose reign is temporary, whose Kingdom
is of this world, whose swords were swung by arms of flesh and blood… Christ
said, “My Kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36)! The common Jew
(the disciples included) was so estranged from the aforementioned
characteristics of the Messiah’s conduct during the 1st Advent that
Peter, of all people, took Jesus aside and “began to rebuke Him” when
the Lord began to confide the secrets of His coming death and resurrection to
His closest disciples (Matt. 16:16-28). It seemed so contrary to every former
King of Israel, and it was! The Lord Jesus was about to surrender Himself to a
conspiracy of injustice that former Kings would have fought against and subdued
by brute force! This conduct was supported by the letter of the Law in every
other circumstance except that of the coming Messiah, according to prophecy.
Jesus Christ had power to reign as King in worldwide dominion over the Jews and
Gentiles by the most unexpected means --- by Self-Sacrifice and Self-Surrender
to the cause of criminal injustice! Unlike every other King of the Jews which
went before Him, Jesus Christ could not die! If the Jews only knew this it
would have given them some pause. They had a greater problem on their hands
than what death could silence into forgetfulness! Glory to God the Father and
our Lord Jesus Christ, He is alive!

Before
moving forward in the Book of Matthew, one further note needs to be made
concerning Matthew 12:15-21. This one attribute of the Man, Jesus Christ – The
touch-able-ness of Human
Redemption – was so notoriously spread abroad that when the multitudes
gathered around Him (accounted in Matt. 12:15-21 & Mk. 3:6-12) He asked that
he might find refuge in a boat to preach to the people from a removed location.
He did this, “lest they should throng Him. For He healed many insomuch that
they pressed upon Him for to touch
Him, as may as had plagues. And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down
before Him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God. And He straitly charged
them that they should not make Him known” (Mk. 3:9-12). Amazing! This is truly
amazing. This was no ordinary Man. This was no ordinary King! “But Jesus
called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles
exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon
them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you,
let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be
your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to
minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:25-28).

12:22-45
àThe Manner of the
Messiah’s Coming (signified by the statement, “The Kingdom of
God is come”): The Lord Jesus, having defied the Jewish expectancy of the
Messiah’s conduct in full volume, theretofore becoming a spectacle of
misconduct and a reproach to 1st century Judaism, and then, as a
consequence, the stage was set for His murder insomuch that He was compelled to
“withdraw Himself” (Matt. 12:14-15), Matthew pointed out the end-all
interaction which severed Christ from Pharisaical Judaism once and for all!
This end-all point of no return for the Jews was attested to by Matthew here,
at this point (in Matt. 12:22-37), signifying the manifestation of utter
reprobation to be blasphemy against the Holy Ghost (Matt. 12:31-32).

Upon the
event wherein the Pharisees did utterly condemn themselves, the Lord saw fit to
declare the root issue which led to their demise – their lack of inward
religion. The Lord Jesus conveyed the spiritual anatomy of inward
religion in Matthew 12:33-37. The Pharisaical Jews were, therefore, “A
generation of vipers”, and how can such men “speak good things” (Matt. 12:34)?
Because they lacked inward conversion toward God, and because they were
utterly bankrupt from all the necessary influences of the Spirit of God (Matt.
13:9-16, John 6:44, 63, 7:16-17, Rom. 11:7-10), the coming of the Messiah and
His Kingdom was utterly indiscernible to the once-born Jews. Jesus Christ did
declare the manner of His Kingdom and His Kingship, how he opposed the Kingdom
of Satan, bound strong men, spoiled their possessions, and liberated their
captives! By these deeds the point was proven, “If I cast out devils by the
Spirit of God, thenthe Kingdom of God is come unto you”
(Matt. 12:28). The Lord Jesus was declaring the discernible fruits of the
Messiah and His Kingdom which, evidently, was not of this world! This is a
spectacle to be wondered at by the Jews!

If the
Messiah came to defend a Kingdom which was of this world, like all the biblical
and God-sent Kings of Israelite history did exemplify, the King of the Jews
would have taken out his sword and fought for a physical Kingdom, and,
furthermore, anytime he would have encountered a demon-possessed person he
would have taken a sword in his hand and slain the cursed person, according to
the letter of the Law (Ex. 22:18, Lev. 20:6, 27, 19:31, Deut. 18:10-12). The fact
that the Lord Jesus battled the Kingdom of Satan from an unprecedented
dimension proves the point that He is an unprecedented King of Israel!
According to prophecy, the Lord Jesus had all authority to cast out and subdue
devils of any sort in fulfillment of what was foretold as Christ’s express
purpose to overthrow, spoil, and punish the rulers, princes, and spirits which
pertain to the invisible and worldwide kingdom of hell (“And I will put
enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; and it
shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” -Gen. 3:5, Rom.
16:20, Heb. 2:14-15, Isa. 24:21, Lk. 10:18, Rev. 12:7-8, 17, 1 Jn. 3:8, Col.
2:15, Rev. 20:10). And having this authority, the Lord Jesus did not slay the
demon-possessed (which was just, according to the Law) --- He forgave and
liberated them! What a wonder! This is the Kingdom of the Messiah at hand,
truly! The Spirit in which Christ came (Lk. 9:55) to Israel was not to kill the
demon-possessed or the adulteress, as the letter of the justice did righteously
demand (demon-possessed: Ex. 22:18, Lev. 20:6, 27, 19:31, Deut. 18:10-12;
adulteress: Lev. 20:10, Deut. 22:21-24)… the purpose of Christ’s coming was not
to enact the curse/justice of the Law but to bear it - to absorb it and take it
upon Himself (“the chastisement of our peace was upon Him”-Isaiah53:5)!
Or, in other words, His purpose was not to bring a famine upon the Land to
punish the wicked doers according to their evil deeds (Deut. 11:17, 28:23-24)…
no, my reader. Rather, it was to bring streams in desert places and spiritual
health to a hell-bound people until the dry land becomes a pool of water (Isa.
35:5-8, 41:18).

Jesus came down,
from Heaven up high, having been sent to every earthly kingdom to proclaim the reason
why.Because God looked down, hearing the sinners cry, in Satan’s
misery held fast and justly doomed to die.Jesus came forth, walking to and fro, to taste of humanities
misery and all their sufferings know!To drink of the cup of wrath, to let the sinners go, to go back to
the Father and make all the world know.God became a Man, it was a predestinated plan, to punish Satan’s
pride and let the oppressed go free!Where death abounded, and misery remained, the blind were
astounded and the dumb did proclaim!Christ The Life, did all people astound, as mercy like rivers did
circle the starving people all around!The people came and drank, the Life-giving power, every man
finding relief from their sin-sick hour!Because as sin did abound, much more grace was found,
till every devil in proximity around cried out,

“MERCY!”…but none was found.

“I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem
them from death:

O death, I will be
thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall

be hid from Mine
eyes.” – Hosea 13:14

The Punisher came from heaven, to send forth the eleven, to plague the grave and undo death, persecuting the devil!Christ’s plagues blew in, they brought LIFE to everything, till sinners round about them were compelled to SHOUT and SING!A world-wide proclamation, heralded by healing-miracles and bread
from Heaven,the preachers of Christ’s Kingdom announced Jesus Christ’s
resurrection!So that those bound in sin, in death’s misery detained, were all welcomed in to feast on Christ’s liberty displayed!The fruits of Christ’s Kingdom were all in hand, they bore them up for show before every fallen man, gazing upon them – promises indeed – they were eaten by all who
were in need, because all who drew near to this Incarnate Man, He FREED!a foretaste Divine, of what shall be wrought by the resurrection
in time!Because it was for us He died, He wants us to know the reason why,to taste of the Fountain of Life and feel, we need not ever die!Because, Jesus said, “Whosoever believeth in Me shall never die.”

12:38-42
àA Turning to the Gentiles
/ The Gentiles Justified & the Jews Condemned at the Balance of Divine
Judgment: The Pharisees had become human-beasts of the most
contemptible sort, like vipers are the abhorrence of all men, thus they saw fit
to kill and remove from among all mankind the Prince of Life Himself, Jesus
Christ! Their conspiring was already underway (and already introduced in the
context since Matt. 12:14) and thus the Lord Jesus gave His infallible opinion
on the matter that He knew was secretly in-the-making. All people who would
truly believe by seeing signs and wonders (see Matt. 11:3-6), to them Christ
was exceeding abundant in goodness and mercy! Yes, He shewed them many signs
over and over again (“Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe”-John
4:48)! But to those who would not believe even after they had personally seen
and heard of many signs and wonders (Lk. 4:23), and, furthermore, after all of
mankind was stirred into a frenzy over the impact of the many signs and wonders
being performed in every place (John 11:48), yes, I say, after the matter was
an undeniable fact which could be reasonably denied by no one (John 11:47-48,
Acts 10:37-38, 26:26), then did the Pharisees make their feigned request: “Master,
we would see a sign from Thee” (Matt. 12:38). To them, Christ said, “An
evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be
given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas”.

Masterfully,
the Lord Jesus was alluding to His own death (the success of their secret
conspiracy begun in Matthew 12:14). The Lord was not deceived by their feigned
request. Instead, He relayed to them the sign which they shall soon see and
know, His death, burial, and resurrection! Christ identified His own ministry
to be that of contempt to Jewish pride, like the prophet Jonah’s ministry was a
sacrilege to the merciless and insidious self-righteousness of the Jews in
Jonah’s day - namely because Jonah was the only prophet in biblical history who
was personally sent to the Gentiles to prophesy in the polluted land of the
heathen, and that, with success! Consequentially Jonah was a man who was
rejected by the Jews for this unprecedented deed, but, I say again --- the man
was received by the Gentiles of Nineveh! The Lord was hereby conveying to the
Pharisees that they are worse off and more vile than the heathen nation of
Nineveh, and that Pharisees, who supposed they are superior in holiness and
goodness above any Gentile Nation, would be condemned by a Gentile woman from
the south in the day of Judgment (Matt. 12:41-42). Superior greatness belonged
to Christ, above Jonah and Solomon, thus superior wretchedness belonged to the
Jews and the Pharisees!

Though
the Pharisees would succeed in their evil cause to murder the Lord Jesus, He
would rise again… an event which would be heard of around the world! From
thenceforth will the Pharisees know the sign of Jonah because, yet again, like
in Jonah’s day, the world of Gentiles will hear from the Man who came back from
the heart of the earth like Jonah came back from the great deep! Think of it,
my reader! The sign of Jonah’s resurrection from his watery grave was spread
throughout the heathen world by the time Jonah stepped foot in the Land of
Nineveh. The ship-mates at sea with Jonah filled the countryside with their
staggering report! Thus, Nineveh had heard all about the man who was cast off
the ship while at sea, only to be swallowed up by a whale. They heard all about
how, before this, the heathen men appealed each one to his own gods to no
avail. They heard how the ship-mates discovered the man Jonah was asleep in the
boat for sorrow. They heard how, at last, Jonah took the blame upon himself and
gave the ship-mates instructions whereby they would save their own lives
because the storm was for his sake. They heard how, at last, when all hope was
lost and every other plan failed, the ship-mates casted Jonah into the sea only
to find his words proven true! With the angry Deity immediately assuaged, the
unrelenting storm which endangered all of their lives came to a startling halt!
Therefore, at last, when the man, Jonah, was alive from the great deep (and he,
having told the ship-mates about his unwillingness to obey the voice of the
Lord), Nineveh heard the message from a resurrected man! Even so, at last, the
world of Gentiles will hear Jesus – they will repent, believe, and be
converted, to the bitter and angry jealousy of the once-born Jews! Shockingly,
and seemingly contrary to the letter of the Law (Gen. 26:4, Jer. 33:19-26), the
redeemed multitude of the Gentiles have become “Abraham’s seed” (Gal. 3:29)
through Christ! To the Gentiles, it was spoken, “If ye be Christ’s, then are
ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:29).

12:43-45
àAn Unclean Nation
Possessed by Unclean Spirits: Though the King and Kingdom of
the Messiah was altogether indiscernible to apostate Judaism, the Lord Jesus
made His presence known among them by the accompanying signs which dignified Him
as King (i.e. power to overthrow and pillage the captives and possessions of
the Satan’ Kingdom; Matt. 12:28). Albeit, when Jesus’ tour among them does
cease and the witnesses of His resurrection, the apostles, go into all the
world in Gentile-saving-power as a testimony to the God-forsaken Jews, the
latter end of the Jews will be worse for them than in the beginning. Though the
physical nation of Israel and the infrastructure of the Kingdom of God existing
in the fleshly lineage of Abraham was so exceedingly blessed by the incarnation
and touring of their long-looked-for Messiah – and though the Lord Jesus did
cast out devils, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and go
about Israel doing good to all men who were oppressed by the Satan (Acts
10:38)! – the latter end of national Israel (Abraham’s literal seed) will be
worse for them than at the beginning! At the beginning, before the Lord did
ever come and bind the strong man’s grip over their lives and people for a
space of time… this was a better estate than how they shall be! Alas, this evil
end! The Lord said, “Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation”
(Matt. 12:45)! Israel was an unclean and polluted nation which was temporarily
relieved by a Fountain for Cleansing sprung up in their midst! But then, at
last, after they can no longer endure the rivers of cleanliness which did
meander abroad throughout the Land, they will kill the Prince of Life by
hanging Him on a Cross! They will thus curse the man who came to bless! And in national
Israel’s latter end Satan’s Tyranny will resume its former regiment in 7-fold
greater power and wickedness than before, ending in the 70 AD annihilation of
all they called life! Foretelling this event, as Jesus journeyed down the final
boulevard of the murderous conspiracy preplanned by the Jews and predestinated
by God, Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but weep for
yourselves, and for your children” (Lk. 23:28).

12:46-50
àNationalistic &
Familial Alliances Announced as Irrelevant: Now, at last, with the
doom of Abraham’s literal seed prophetically declared by Jesus Christ, their
soon-to-be crucified King, Matthew points the attention of all men to
understand the anatomy of the Kingdom of God which shall exist thenceforth. The
Kingdom of God will exist, irrespective of flesh and blood and impartial toward
literal Israel, so much so that Jesus’ literal and physical Mother, brothers,
and sisters, will be left outside of “The Family”, so to speak. The Family and
Lineage of this Kingdom will exist otherwise, “For whosoever shall do the will
of my Father which is in Heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and
mother” (Matt. 12:50), Jesus said. Upon this final answer Jesus left His
mother, brothers, and sisters disrespected (in a carnal sense) and outside of
the Family, so to speak, when they “stood without” desiring to speak with Him
(probably thinking Jesus had gone mad; see Mk. 3:21, John 7:1-5). Jesus
unashamedly gestured toward those who stood around Him to hear the word of God by
faith (contrary to His carnal family), saying of them, “Behold My mother and My
brethren” (Matt. 12:49)! With godly impartiality and sincerity the Lord Jesus
delivered the faithful judgments of the Kingdom of God just as He had received
them from God: to His greatest enemies and His closest friends, carnally
speaking. Because Jesus showed no partiality toward his Mother, brothers, and
sisters, neither should His followers. Today, in this generation, for the cause
of Christ’s Kingdom and for the good of every Christian’s carnal family and
friends, a parallel witness should be upheld! One day, my reader, not too far
yonder: the entire number of individuals from every generation who became the
Family of God in truth will dine together in a heavenly fellowship God’s Family
Reunion, just as Christ foretold in Matthew 8:11-12, saying, “many
shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac,
and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be
cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth”
(Matthew 8:11-12). Hallelujah!

13:1-52 àThe Messiah’s Kingdom in
its Beginning, Continual Rise, & Consummation(via
seven parables which express unutterable mysteries): The Messiah’s enthronement
is an unexpected and mysterious Kingdom in its beginning and how it
would progress, a mystery “which none of the princes of this world knew:
for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor.
2:8). It was, alas, “hid” from their eyes (Lk. 19:42)! And the Gentiles shout –
“Alas, and did my Savior bleed, and did the Sovereign die?!” Christ lamented at
their blindness to God’s mystery, and that for this – their blindness
– He said to Israel: “thou knewest not the time of thy visitation” (Lk.
19:44). The mystery of the Messiah and His Kingdom was revealed to a chosen
remnant who were elected to believe. Christ said to them, “Blessed are your
eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say
unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things
which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear,
and have not heard them” (Matt. 13:16-17, see also Romans 11:5-7). Beloved
readers, Christ revealed these things to His disciples, a “little flock” (Lk.
12:32), while the vast and numerous Israelite nation groped in spiritual
blindness, deafness, and confusion of face. Christ preached IN THEIR HEARING,
the mysterious beginning and continual rise of His Kingdom, how
He would be the rejected by the Jews, how this would turn and allow the
engraftment of the Gentiles (Rom. 11:7-25), and how that finally, through the
Gentiles, a final salvation of physical Israel would consummate the ages – a
consummation which, shockingly, would usher the whole world into a regeneration
of sinless bliss and paradise – somehow, a worldwide experience described as
“life from the dead” (Rom. 11:12, 15), where the creation itself will be
“delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the
children of God” (Rom. 8:21)! Hallelujah!

Who can
expound such mysteries? To so unlearned a people? In so few sentences? By open
air sermons? To an impatient, unbelieving, proud, and self-confident Israel?
Through parables, my reader, Christ did. Why parables, you ask?
For good reason. Christ used parables to explain the untold “mysteries of the
Kingdom of Heaven” (Matt. 13:11) because, by using parables, He hid the
meaning of the parables from the damned and revealed it
to the elect. These parables would metaphorically and pictorially reveal: (Firstly)
how the Kingdom would suddenly begin and rise in power –
through the death of One Man, as a mustard seed (Matt. 13:31-32), falling into
the ground and dying (John 12:23-24). This marks the beginning of the Messiah’s
everlasting, unconquerable Kingdom and Throne (Dan. 2:44-45), the throne of
David (Isa. 9:6-7, Zech. 14:9, Ps. 72:8-11, 110:1-7, Acts 2:22-36), and this
Kingdom, (Secondarily) though it be by the smallest of beginnings, like
as a pitiful mustard seed is the smallest of seeds (Matt. 13:31-32), it will
one day rise from the earth in which it was buried, and it, surpassing all
other trees, will extend its branches into the very heavens above. By
interpretation, the Messianic Kingdom will consummate in worldwide
sovereignty, thrusting earthly humans upward into heavenly citizenship,
calling heaven’s otherworldly powers to come down for earthly regenerations.
Its roots extending down into the earth, its branches high into the heavens, it
will come to be that, in Christ, heaven is the home of clay-made humanity while
they abide on earth, whereabout staggeringly, heaven cometh down to earth and
earth up to heaven (Col. 2:20, 3:1-4, Matt. 6:9-10, Heb. 3:1, Rev. 21:2,
22:16-17)! Alas, and did my Savior bleed, and did the Sovereign die?! So that,
for me, even for me…I see “a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it
reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it”
(Gen. 28:11-12)! Do you understand? Do you have ears to hear? My reader, the
parables of Christ explain the mysterious beginning of Christ’s Kingdom, how
that, in its continual rising, it is undetected and unconquerable in progress,
to the end that an eventual and unthinkable consummation would fulfill all things.
[For a comprehensive and detailed overview of Matthew Chapter 13 see Chapter 14.]

13:53-38
àFrom Whence Cometh This
Man:
The question is not, “Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty
works?” The real question is, From whence cometh this Man? If only they knew
and believed the scripture which they have grown up hearing! Even as Isaiah
prophesied, saying, “Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign;
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall all His Name
Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14)! “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is
given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The
Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no
end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to
establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The
zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this” (Isa. 9:6-7). Aye, Jesus’ home
town! They who could have been the most blessed became the most cursed! What a
tragedy! What an ungodly familiarity they had with the God-Man! Oh, let it not
be so in our day, dear Lord! This was not Joseph’s son but God’s Son! –
And we His brethren… (Heb. 2:11-12). This is a mysterious Kingdom
indeed! All of Israel was happy to hear that Saul was King (for, “he was
higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward”-1 Sam.10:23).
Samuel said, “See ye him whom the LORD hath chosen, that there is none like
him among all the people? And all the people shouted, and said, God save the
King” (1 Sam. 10:24). But of this Jesus, it was written, “there is no
beauty that we should desire Him.” Would to God that all men would desire
Him! But, shockingly, He is sprung up from the most unexpected of places, to
begin a Kingdom of unexpected infrastructure, to surmount all Kingdoms with
unprecedented power! “For He shall grow up before Him as a tender
plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and
when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is
despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and
we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not” (Isa.
53:2-3). The devils “knew” Jesus but His hometown didn’t…